Introduction

Do you want to become an independent director? 

Do you want to be appointed by the Board of a large company?  

Have you worked in the corporate sector for several years? Do you want to explore new areas to leverage your experience to contribute to the corporate sector?

Do you have a decade or more of experience in finance, law, management, sales, marketing, research, corporate governance, operations or other areas relating to a company’s business?

Are you retired/ approaching retirement and considering lucrative part time options to generate income and also utilise your decades of work experience?

You can become an Independent Director and be appointed to the Board of Directors of large companies in India. 

There is an increasing demand for skilled independent directors, as more and more companies are coming under the requirement of having a minimum set of independent and non-executive directors. Owing to amendments in the Companies Act, rapid formalization of Indian SMEs and exponential growth of startups, every listed company, a large company with paid up capital in excess of Rs. 10 crore or turnover of more than Rs. 100 crore or outstanding loans, debentures and deposits of more than Rs 50 crore or a funded startup which plans to do an IPO, must appoint at least one-third of independent directors if it is a public unlisted company. 

Thus Independent Directors play a very important role in the governance of a company, by ensuring that the decisions of the board of directors are impartial, without any conflict of interest thereby preventing any instances of misgovernance in the functioning of the company. As an independent director, you have to attend board meetings of listed companies, go through their financial documents, ask questions to ensure that appropriate checks and balances are in place and you can earn really well doing this. 

Serving as an Independent Director is a matter of great prestige for an individual. With the 2020 amendment in Schedule V of Companies Act, 2013, the Independent Directors can be remunerated annually from Rs.12 lakhs (in case of negative effective capital) to Rs. 24 lakhs plus 0.01% of the effective capital in excess of Rs.250 Crores. The best part about this profile is that there is no retirement age, it is part time, and your past work experience continues to give you rich rewards, once you have cracked. 

Factors like digitisation, post pandemic government reforms such as UPI, formalisation and high economic growth potential of India are encouraging more informal sector businesses to create corporate structures, raise venture capital funding and scale up, so the opportunity is ever expanding. 

Currently there are 20,798 registered Independent Directors, out of which 10,805 candidates have already passed the Independent Directors’ exam. 

With almost 22 lakh companies in India, 1.67 lakh incorporated companies and 7.5 K listed companies at least 5 to 10 times more Independent Directors are needed right now. 

Even if you are an executive director, CEO, CXO or a startup founder qualifying this exam sends a strong signal that you are conversant with corporate governance best practices.

To become an independent director, you need to qualify an exam. 

Who should attempt the test?

• All independent directors whose names are registered with the Independent Director Database, and
• Professionals planning to become independent directors and have registered themselves with the Independent Director Database 
• HR managers, compliance professionals and entrepreneurs are equipped to attempt the Independent Directors' exam and serve the role of an independent director on the board of a company.

Who is eligible to become Independent directors?

Section 149(6) of Companies Act, 2013 lays down the eligibility criteria for an Independent Director.
This clause is exclusionary in nature and rather tells us who may not become an independent director for a company  
 
As the name suggests, an independent director needs to be impartial, thus a person who is already in the capacity of a Promoter or a Director or a relative of the Promoter or Director of either the Company or its subsidiary he/she is not eligible to become an Independent director. Similarly if a person has any pecuniary relationship with the company’s holding, subsidiary or associate company or their promoters or directors during 2 years they may not hold the given position. 

However, registering oneself in the Independent Directors database may make the person eligible to hold this position in any company provided they do not fall against the above criteria.  

Duties of an Independent Director:

• Bring an independent and objective view on the Board of Directors deliberations.
• Scrutinize the performance of the management, including the Board.
• Ensure the integrity of the Financial statements and risk management system.
• Protect the interests of all stakeholders, specially the minority shareholders.
• Balance conflict of interests and determine remuneration of the directors and other Key Managerial personnels.

Why is the self-assessment proficiency test important?

Rule 6(4) of the Companies (Appointment and Qualification of Directors) Rules, 2014 has made it mandatory for all independent directors who names are registered with the Independent Director Database to pass the online proficiency self-assessment test, conducted by the Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs (IICA) within a period of two years from the date of inclusion of his name in the databank.

Failing to pass the proficiency test within the above mentioned period shall result in removal of name from the databank of the IICA.

The best part is that there is no limit on the number of attempts an individual may take for passing the online proficiency self-assessment test.

Course Structure

Course Details

A student will be provided the following-

• Total Number of MCQs: 1500+
• Total Number of Notes: 200+
• Total Number of Live Classes: 48 (2 live classes per week)
• Total Number of Pre-recorded Videos: 400+
• Total Number of Case Study: 7

Training Methodology

Online 24/7 access

Access to basic study material through an online learning management system, Android and iOS app

Live Online Classes and Mocks

1 topic-wise mock in every class | 5-subject-wise mocks to practice answers | 6 full length monthly mocks.

Convenient Class timings

Classes are held after regular work hours. Typically classes are kept on Sunday afternoon or 7-8 pm on other days.

Live Doubt Clearing

You can ask questions, get your doubt cleared live as well as through online forums

Certification

This course is recognized by the National Skill Development Corporation, a PPP under the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship of the Government of India. You will receive a certificate cobranded by NSDC and Skill India on successful completion.

This is how the certificate from NSDC and Skill India will look as per the current applicable format (may change as per the approval authorities):

Money-back guarantee

If you take this course, follow it diligently for a month, do all the exercises but still do not find value in it, or not able to understand or follow it or not find it good for any reason, we will refund the entire course fee to you. It is a 100% money-back guarantee with only one condition, you must pursue it properly for a month. If you don’t find it valuable after that, get your entire money back.

View Refund Policy